Big Brother
by RiddledRose
Summary: Chapter 3: Family. Nny has a talk with Squee about what really makes a family, and it leads to some really awkward moments. Rated M for language.
1. Chapter 1: Twist

"Ew, I think it got in my mouth..." I groaned, spitting out the foul red substance from my lips and onto the floor. "Next time, I suppose I ought to wear I surgeon's mask."

Of course, I wasn't really talking to anyone in particular. After all, there was no one around to talk _to_. It was only me and Reverend Meat, and to be honest, he's pretty annoying for a fat plastic burger boy.

I glanced over at the clock. "Only one thirty? Damn, the days seem to drag by slower and slower all the time..."

"You haven't been out in a while, Nny," Meat drawled from his perch on my dresser as I entered my bedroom. "Perhaps it's about time you went out to find a new plaything."

I curled my lip in a disgusted snarl at him. "I have so many downstairs that I haven't even begun to break. I don't need anything new right now."

"How about some dinner, then?" Meat asked. "You haven't eaten in days, either."

"Not hungry," I muttered.

"Thirsty much? You've gotta keep yourself hydrated."

"I've got a perfectly functional kitchen sink. If I want to drink something, I'll get some water."

"Well, maybe you should watch some television. Or see a movie. Or-"

"God _DAMMIT_ will you shut up?" I snapped, annoyed by the sound of his voice. "I am _so_ sick of hearing you trying to tempt me with pointless shit! Can't you be quiet?"

In light of my irritation, I kicked the dresser, hoping the force would send the little bastard flying on the floor. I hoped the impact would shatter him into a million pieces.

But no, he didn't move, as always. He didn't even flinch...Damn it.

I growled a curse under my breath and headed into the living room. The horrible truth was, though, that the burger boy was right. I _was_ hungry, I _was_ thirsty, and I really _did_ need a new spin on my life. I was _bored_.

I flopped on the sofa and stared at the blank television screen. I wished to God that my mind could be like that screen-black and empty, with no function going on in it. Until it was turned back on, it would sit there quietly, its empty face staring into nothing, having no thoughts, no feelings, no desires. How I envied it. I wanted desperately to be like that, to be shut off. I wanted to be unfeeling, cold, thoughtless. Being anything otherwise was just miserable.

"There you go again," Meat's voice sighed from the bedroom, "Getting all depressed because you can't accept what you are. Denying it only makes it worse, Johnny. When you ignore something, you only call its attention to you more loudly. You can't change who or what you are. Why don't you just accept it and move on to something else?"

"Didn't I tell you to shut up? Damn, you're twice as annoying as any Doughboy ever was!" I snarled.

He didn't speak again after that. At least he knew his limits. Good for him, fucking piece of plastic shit.

I stormed into the kitchen again and flung open the fridge.

"Empty. What a surprise," I muttered, slamming the door so hard that the appliance rocked unsteadily in its place. "I'm going to get a Brain Freezy."

Not because Meat had mentioned doing so to me, but because I had nothing better to do. If anything, maybe getting out of the house would tone down my bad mood. I doubted it, but it couldn't hurt to try. What else did I have to do, after all? It's not like I had any real responsibilities to tend to, and on top of that, it was only after one in the morning.

It was going to be one of those long, treacherous nights, I could just tell. You know, the ones that seem to last forever while you're immersed in depressed misery and your mind dwells on the dark aspects of everything. One of those nights where you could just grab a gun and use it to shoot a bullet into your brains to give them a rest.

As I was walking past one of the neighbor's houses-the one where that kid named Squee lived-I heard the door creak open. I halted in my tracks, interested to see who could possibly be up and about at this hour. Usually, if Squee's parents were awake at this time, they stayed inside. What could be going on?

The door continued to swing open until I saw Squee himself peek outside.

"Mommy...? Daddy...?" he whimpered, looking frantically about. "Where are you guys...?"

Well, this was indeed something unusual. I knew his parents didn't exactly care about the poor kid, but they had never disappeared like this before and left him behind.

"Hey, Squeegee!" I called to him. "What's going on?"

His eyes widened at me, as if they weren't already gigantic to begin with. Squee had always been a little nervous around me since the first time we met. I'm not sure why. I had always tried to be nice to him. Maybe it had something to do with the way we first met. I'd broken into his house in search of some disinfectant because some bastard I'd killed had scraped me up pretty badly in his struggle for life. I guess that's not the grounds to go on for a good first impression...

"I can't find Mommy and Daddy," Squee said slowly, stepping back into the house. He started to close the door.

"Wait a minute!" I ran up to the porch and caught the door before it closed all the way. "I could help you look for them."

"Umm..."

"Great! Where have you looked already?" I asked, letting myself inside the house.

"Well...Everywhere but the basement...It's scary down there..."

I knew it was rude of me, but I just had to laugh when he said this. A basement? Scary? I was positive this house's basement was perfectly normal and not littered with corpses, as mine was. And he thought _his_ basement was scary (Not that I'm scared of my own basement, but someone as jumpy as Squee would be)!

I headed for the stairs that lead to Squee's basement. I'd been in this house dozens of times when I came to talk to Squee, so I knew my way around pretty well. "Come on," I told the kid, "let's go find your parents."

Why he cared about those two fucks so much, I'll never know. They were mean to him, ignored him, didn't try to show him any affection...Hardly what comes to mind when you think about parents, but there you are. It was enough to almost make me feel sorry for the kid.

I led Squee into the basement, which was considerably smaller than my own, and we began looking around in every corner, behind every door (that only led to a wine cellar and what I think may have been an alien meth lab), and anywhere else you could hide a person (dead or alive).

Nothing.

I heaved a sigh, as I was finally catching on to what was happening. Those sons of bitches had finally done it. They had run off to God knows where and left their son behind.

Shit. Now where did this leave me? I was the one who had found him, so did that mean I had to watch him until they came back? ...If they ever came back...

"Oh, hell," I groaned.

"Johnny, I really don't think they're here..." Squee said sadly, approaching me from behind.

I slowly turned around to face him. "I don't think so, either, kid."

As I looked at those bulging eyes, which were just oozing innocence, I couldn't help but actually feel bad for the little squirt. He'd gone too long without someone to guide him, someone to teach him about the world. If I let him go, left him alone, he'd end up like every other fucked up deadbeat in the world. He needed someone to show him the proper ways to see things, to instill in him a sense of self awareness and that the world would rip him to shreds if he didn't know how to deal with it.

I just hated that that person would have to be me.

I sighed. "Come on, kid. Let's go get a Brain Freezy and wait for your parents to come home."

I think we both knew they wouldn't show up.


	2. Chapter 2: Sleepover

"Here we go," I said to Squee, flinging open the door to my bedroom. "You can have my bed tonight. It's not like I ever use it."

"...Are you sure...?" he asked timidly, staring up at me with those wide, infinitely and almost sickening adorable eyes.

I shrugged. "Yeah. I don't sleep much. If I do, it's usually because I collapse on the floor out of exhaustion. Human needs are such pesky things, are they not?"

Squee cocked his head to the side like he didn't know what I meant. I sighed and lifted him onto the bed, tucking him under the sheets. "It's not a bad bed, though," I assured him. "If I didn't find sleep itself so detestable, I'd rather enjoy retiring to it every night. You just relax, and I'll keep watch for your parents. Okay?"

He nodded, shaking for some odd reason. "O-Okay..."

"Well, g'night, then!" I said, trying to sound cheerful. I headed to the door. "Don't let the giant evil roaches bite!"

I started to shut the door behind me, but stopped. "Uh...I'm serious about those roaches. I keep a knife under the pillow in case they try to bite me. If you cut off their heads, the bodies just wander around aimlessly. I'm sure you can handle it. 'Night!"

I closed the door and headed to the living room. Just as I sank onto the sofa, I noticed a pair of headlights from the window round the corner and pull into Squee's driveway.

With a groan, I forced myself to stand once more and snuck outside to listen to what was going on.

"He's gone!" a woman's voice cried, sounding almost joyful.

"Gone? You're serious?" a male asked.

I recognized them both instantly as Squee's parents. To hear them sound so excited about the disappearance of their only son was quite annoying to me. I fought the urge to snap each of their necks and continued to eavesdrop on them.

"Quickly, get everything you can," Mrs. Casil told her husband. "We can send movers for the rest later. Didn't I tell you if we left for a while that he would try to go look for us? Didn't I?"

"You did," Squee's father admitted, "and it was brilliant! Now that we're rid of that pest at last, we can finally take that roadtrip to Vegas, that vacation in the Carribean...Ah, all the things we couldn't do because of that kid..."

I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't stand to listen to these two scumbags talk so disdainfully about their own son. Still managing to somehow keep my composure, I strode over to them casually and leaned against my side of the fence that separated our properties. "Well, I couldn't help but hear that you two are going on a little trip," I said smoothly.

"Oh!" Squee's mother jumped, startled by my sudden appearance. "You scared me!"

I grinned. "My bad. So, Vegas? The Carribean? Sounds fun."

"Oh, yes," she gushed. "We've dreamed of going for such a long time now, but we've never had the chance. You know, kids and all."

"Oh, kids, yeah..." I mumbled, "They can be a handful, I imagine. What with all the love and affection and attention you have to give them to make them happy. I'm sure it's very difficult."

"I don't like your tone," Mr. Casil spoke up, giving me a suspicious look. "And I'm sure I haven't seen you around here before. Who are you?"

"Why, sir, I am insulted you wouldn't recognize your own next-door neighbor," I drawled, weighing down my voice with sarcasm. "You should know me. I'm very good friends with your son."

"Todd?" Mrs. Casil stammered. "...That's his name, right?"

I narrowed my eyes at her, disgusted. "What kind of mother forgets her own child's name, may I ask?"

"Oh, a mother who never intended to become one, I guess," she sighed. "You couldn't imagine having to care for a child you never wanted."

"I believe I could," I replied, my voice instinctively receding into a low growl. "You, madam, are a most repulsive woman. Are you aware of that? Don't you know how many women there are who don't ask for their children, but love them all the same? But I suppose you're too consumed with your love of drugs and booze to distribute it to anything worthwhile."

"How rude!" she cried, looking expectantly at her husband. "Are you going to just allow him to speak to me like that? Are you?"

"I _was_ only thinking," he murmured, slowly leveling his gaze with mine, "how the kid is always going on about the crazy neighbor man...And I've never seen this guy before...You're the one he talks about all the time, aren't you?"

I smiled, but I imagine it wasn't a pleasant one, because it made the two of them nervous. "Squee talks about me, eh? How nice of him to mention me to his parents. You know, he's over at my house right now. I let him stay over while we waited for you two to come home, but I think it would be best if he never knew you came back. I think it would be better if he thought you died in a tragic accident. Yes, I think that would be fitting..."

Slowly, I drew a knife from behind my back (I always carry one, you see) and leaped over the fence. The blade glittered quite beautifully in the silver moonlight, reflecting the terrified expressions of my soon-to-be victims.

"OH-!" Mrs. Casil's voice was cut off as I slashed the knife into her throat. She staggered clumsily to the ground, leaking blood all over the driveway. She was twitching, gasping for breath, trying to scream.

I smirked. "I didn't cut deep enough for her to die quickly. I'd give her an hour at most...Not that I'll allow that. Now then, sir, I believe it's your turn!"

I lunged at Squee's father, brandishing my knife and laughing gleefully (hey, it was fun!). He dodged, and I just barely scratched his arm.

"Keep away from me!" he shouted. "Stay back!"

"Shut up," I ordered. "Squee is asleep. I'd hate for him to wake up and hear you yelling. It wouldn't do very well for him to see you get murdered if I try to tell him of your unfortunate accident."

"You're crazy!" he screamed. "You're insane! Do you know that? INSANE! COMPLETELY _WACKY_!"

I halted in my tracks as that word-that horrible, filthy word-exited his lips. Of all the things he could have called me, he chose _that_. _That terribly nasty word_!

"You stupidl, dumb FUCK!" I bellowed, jumping at him again. "HOW DARE YOU CALL ME THAT! _HOW DARE YOU!"_

I don't quite remember what happened after that. The next thing I knew, the man was sprawled out on the ground before me, his tounge torn out and his eyes pushed deep in the back of his skull. A pool of blood encircled him, pouring out from a large gaping hole in his torso.

"Shit," I muttered, annoyed at the mess I had made. "He had to get me all worked up. Now I've gotta clean this up before sunrise. Damn..."

I dragged each of the bodies into my house and tossed them into the basement, then set to cleaning up the scene with bleach, ammonia, and any other chemical I could find. It took me the entire remainder of the night to get the driveway and sidewalks clean. By the time I returned to my house and tried again to relax on my sofa, it was seven in the morning.

As soon as I had turned on the television, I heard the bedroom door squeak open and Squee entered the room.

"Johnny...?" he whispered, clutching his teddy bear, Shmee, who I was not particularly fond of. "Good morning, Johnny..."

I tried to smile at him, but I just couldn't. "Hey, Squeegee. Why are you up?"

"Well...It's seven o'clock..." he stammered. "I have to go to school today..."

I frowned. Send the kid to school after everything that had happened last night? Send him to some kiddie hell where stupid children would pick on him and call him names right after he had lost his parents? I didn't think so.

"Like hell you're going today," I told him. "I'm taking you out, and we're gonna have us some fun."


	3. Chapter 3: Family

"Um, Johnny, where are we going...?" Squee asked uneasily from the back seat of my car.

"Well, I'm not exactly sure," I admitted. "Uhh...Ya hungry? We could go for some breakfast, then head to the store."

I didn't really stock up on food at home. I usually ate out whenever I got hungry, but now that I had a roommate to take care of, I guessed I'd have to go do some shopping. I hoped I had enough money to do that. I didn't have a job, which was another reason why I didn't eat much. I usually took the money from the wallets of my victims. I mean, it's not like they would need it anymore, right? Corpses have no need for cash.

I heard Squee's stomach rumble quietly with hunger and couldn't help but grin. "Guess your gut speaks for itself, huh, Squeegee?"

He nodded, embarrassed. "Can...can we go to McMeaty's?"

"_McMeaty's_...?" I asked, screwing up my face in a disgusted expression. "...Um..."

"We don't have to if you don't wanna..." he said softly, his eyes dropping to the floor.

I winced. He was so damn cute that it almost made me sick. How was I supposed to say no to that?

"...No, no, it's okay. We can go there." As I spoke, I had to hide the urge to gag. It was a pretty nasty place to be, you know. The food was all greasy and slimy, the smell was reminded me of human waste...Not exactly the most nutritional food for a kid, but then I remembered the whole reason I was taking him out to begin with.

With a guilty sigh, I drove to the McMeaty's parking lot. Before we went inside, I paused for a moment to calm myself. I had had my fair share of bad memories that took place in restaraunts, and none of them had ended well. In fact, there was one in particular that I really didn't want to repeat with Squee around. If anyone watches the news, then you all ought to be aware of the incident at a certain taco place a rather long time ago. A nasty old lady had the audacity to call me the 'W' word, and maybe I overreacted a little, but give me a break. I mean, how catty do you have to be to call someone out like that, for Christ's sake? Especially if it's someone you don't know!

I can still hear her irritting voice in my head. "I would simply die if my son looked as wacky!" GOD! THE NERVE OF SOME PEOPLE! So I gave her and all the other sons of bitches in that place what they deserved, because nobody's gonna call me that filthy word and get away with it...Except that policeman, but that's only because I don't know who he is!

"Are you okay, Nny?" Squee's voice whispered from behind me.

I looked up at him through the rear-view mirror and managed a pathetic smile. "I'm fine, kid. Let's just get this over with."

I got out of the car and let Squee out, and together we entered the building. As soon as we walked inside, the smell of the food nauseated me. I could feel the bile in my stomach churning, toiling like some foul witch's concoction. But I was fairly good at keeping down the urge to vomit, so I took Squee to look at the menu and choose something to eat.

While we waited, I noticed a woman and her son, who was probably about Squee's age, get in line behind us. The kid immediately approached Squee and started talking about some stupid Japanese cartoon monster while shoving all these annoying card things in Squee's face. Squee didn't look interested at all, but he listened to the kid anyway like he didn't know what else to do.

"Aw, isn't that sweet?" the weird kid's mother gushed, "I'm so glad Sammy's making new friends. We just moved in town, you see. Are you that little boy's father?"

What the hell was wrong with these two? Randomly approaching people, talking about stupid things and asking stupid questions came off to me as being a little overbearing. And I thought I was a strange person.

I shook my head. "No, he's my neighbor. His parents are away, so I'm looking after him."

Well, it wasn't a total lie, was it...?

I turned my attention back to the kids. Sammy was still prattling on about his dumb pocket balls (what the fuck are those, anyway?) things, and Squee looked as bored as ever. Why didn't he do something about it? I could tell that whatever mindless stupidity was spouting out of Sammy's mouth wasn't interesting him at all, but why was he just enduring it like that? That wasn't going to accomplish anything.

_Well, I guess this is where my duty as his caretaker kicks in, _I thought to myself. It annoyed me that I'd have to step in and take care of this situation, but how was Squee going to learn a lesson if someone didn't teach it to him?

I pulled Squee aside and led him to the bathroom. "Look, Squee, I think it's time I taught you another lesson about life. That kid was irritating you, right?"

He shifted his weight on his feet and looked around with shifty eyes. "W-Well...A little..."

"So next time, when you run into someone and they start talking about a bunch of nonsense you could care less about, tell them so. There's nothing wrong with letting them know you aren't really interested. Or you could be more polite and just change the subject...Either works."

Was I doing this thing right? The kid was just gawking at me like I was speaking Greek or something.

"You aren't in trouble, Squee, I'm just trying to teach you something," I assured him, "I just don't want you to be a walking mat for other people. That's probably the most important lesson of all: Don't let others push you around. If you let other people just walk on top of you, you'll just degenerate into some kind of mindless drone who can't do a thing for himself because he's so used to others doing everything for him. Worry about what you want, and nothing else matters. Okay?"

Squee was silent for a moment or two before finally speaking up. "Mommy and Daddy only worried about what they wanted..." he said softly, "...and look where it got them."

I stared at him, taken completely by surprise. "W-What do you mean by that, Squeegee?"

"They aren't going to come home for me, Nny," he said, his eyes filling up with tears. "They won't come home at all. They never liked me, so they left me and went away..."

Suddenly, I started feeling sick again. Not because of the stench of the meat place or the fact that we were standing in a urine soaked restroom, but because this kid was making me feel bad for him. I wasn't sorry that I had murdered his asshole parents, but I _was_ sorry that he was hurting so much.

I squatted down to his level and placed my hands on his shoulders to comfort him. "You're right, kid. They won't come back. But you know what? That's off on them. You don't need parents like that. You don't need them at all, really. As long as you've got someone who cares about you and takes care of you, then that's the only family you need. They may have given you life, but that isn't what makes a family. Do you understand?"

He wiped away his tears and nodded. "So...does that make _you_ my family, Johnny...?"

"Huh?"

Did I say that? I was pretty sure that was not what I had meant.

"You just said the only family I need is someone who cares about me and takes care of me," he explained. "Doesn't that mean you're my family now?"

I smiled weakly as I realized that I had just described our current situation as a family. And you know what? I sort of liked the idea of it. I could live with that.

"I guess it does, kid," I murmured with a quick nod.

"I always wanted a big brother," Squee said with a broad grin.

The next thing I knew, he had wrapped his arms around me, smothering himself in my shirt. It shocked me at first and it took a moment for my mind to register that he was hugging me. Awkward.

"Uhh..." Not knowing what else to do, I patted his back and waited for him to let go of me. "...Yeah, okay..."

Finally, Squee released me and I stood up again. "Can I get a burger now?" he asked with a smile.

I nodded and held the door open for him. As he walked in front of me, it occurred to me that I'd never seen him grin like that. You know, like he was actually happy for once in his life. And don't get me wrong, I thought it was great that I had managed to make him feel better, but I was also worried about this family thing.

I wanted to keep Squee around and take care of him, but how was I going to do that? I managed to take care of myself just fine, but now that I had a kid to watch out for. What was I to do?

"Come on, Johnny!" Squee urged, tugging my hand and heading back to the line.

I couldn't help but smile a little at him. I would worry about all that later.


End file.
